1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of producing a non-enzymatic whole blood detecting electrode strip, and the reaction film formulation comprising specific components that can be used in the production of said electrode strip.
2. Description of the Related Arts
Electrodes made by utilizing electrochemical methods can be divided into two types: enzymatic electrodes and non-enzymatic electrodes. At the present time, the majority of the electrodes mentioned in the technical literatures and used in the biological substances measuring are enzymatic electrodes, such as the well commercialized blood sugar electrode. In regard to non-enzymatic electrodes, most of them are used in the testing of general chemical compounds, such as pH electrodes for testing hydrogen ion. Since many enzymatic electrodes have restrictive conditions for moisture preservation, complicated manufacturing processes, and over-elaborate control conditions, manufacturing costs are quite high and mass production is not feasible, and thus they are only suitable for use by technicians in research organizations and large scale medical testing units.
Relating to the prior art of non-enzymatic electrode strips, such as an electric current non-enzymatic electrode strip disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,258,230 B1, the manufacturing process uses screen printing to spread the reaction film formulation to cover two electrode systems. The composition of the reaction film formulation for being utilized in the screen printing requires large amounts of polymers mixed with a salt buffer. Although this type of electrodes can be used for mass production, there are numerous production steps, and the reaction film formulation is composed of many types of compositions, which lead to high production costs. Moreover, hemolytic phenomenon induced by the surfactant used in the reaction film formulation causes serious interference for the detection of uric acid in whole blood.
As a result, the market still has a need for the development of a method to producing a non-enzymatic whole blood detecting electrode strip.